About Thomas Goodale

One of those to leave Salem, was Zachariah's son, Thomas3 Goodell, who moved to Woodstock, Connecticut. Thomas married Sarah Horrell and they had eleven children. Of these children, Jabez moved to Westminster, Vermont along with several of the children of his brothers, Ebenezer and Edward.

The big families and dwindling estates of Massachusetts' Goodales must have been having an impact as Thomas had left that Salem area and was "of Woodstock CT" at the time of his marriage to Sarah. He soon went on to Pomfret, purchasing land there from Deacon Chandler. He returned to Massachusetts to marry and he left her in the spring of 1698 to go to Pomfret and ready the homestead.

The following description from Folktales of Pomfret described for me what it must have been like as a colonial pioneer in the wilds of Connecticut and has helped to make Sarah Horrell Goodell one of my favorite ancestors:

"WEST OF THE MASHAMOQUET-ABINGTON

In the autumn of 1698, Sarah Horrel Goodell left the friendly village of Woodstock, following the Path alone, far out into the wilds of the Nipmuck wilderness, seeking the cabin that she had been told by friends her husband was making ready for her. He had left for the new country in the early spring. Receiving no tidings of him, she resolved to join him, so taking her spinning wheel, she traversed the lonely trail from Roxbury, Mass., depending upon chance "lifts" from fellow travelers along the way.

She could not be prevailed upon to remain overnight at Woodstock but, spinning wheel in hand, she hurried on through the forest gloom. South of Woodstock lay the Mashamoquet in the Nipmuck Country, the future town of Pomfret. At this period the only settler in the Purchase was John Sabin, near the Woodstock line, the Bartholomew place. The path that Sarah Horrel Goodell trod that autumn night, two hundred and fifty years ago, led over Ragged Hill in the western section, miles from the Sabin home. She traveled the rocky trail, ragged and steep, down through the valleys, over the brooks and on for many a weary mile, until at last, as the last rays faded in the west, she came to the little clearing and there, by the side of the "way", she found her cabin home.

This first Goodell home is believed to have stood near the summit of Easter Hill, in the Elliott section of Pomfret, so named from its last resident. Traces of the old cellar remain near a fine spring of water.

In 1709 Thomas Goodell sold this first cabin and clearing with its young orchards to Ebenezer Truesdell, and built himself a large and substantial dwelling on the northern slope of the hill, about one-fourth of a mile south of the present Abington Church.

He owned several hundred acres of land between Blackwell's Brook and Abington Brook. His land was crossed by the King's Highway up to 1870, when that section of this ancient road was closed by the laying of the N. Y. N. H. & H. R. R. Travel was diverted through Abington Common, now Route 97.

The Goodells were of Huguenot origin. .All of their eleven children were born before 1721. The first child, Humphrey, born Oct. 30, 1699 was the first white child born in the limits of the Mashamoquet Purchase

The Goodell family lived for many generations at their second home site. A marvelous growth of lilacs still thrive by the open gate. A crumbling chimney, broad door stones, and a near-by well are all that remain to mark this century old pioneer homestead.

Captain Zachariah Goodell (French and Indian War) sold the land (for twenty pounds old tenor) for the site of the meeting-house in 1751."

-------------------- One of those to leave Salem, was Zachariah's son, Thomas3 Goodell, who moved to Woodstock, Connecticut. Thomas married Sarah Horrell and they had eleven children. Of these children, Jabez moved to Westminster, Vermont along with several of the children of his brothers, Ebenezer and Edward.

The big families and dwindling estates of Massachusetts' Goodales must have been having an impact as Thomas had left that Salem area and was "of Woodstock CT" at the time of his marriage to Sarah. He soon went on to Pomfret, purchasing land there from Deacon Chandler. He returned to Massachusetts to marry and he left her in the spring of 1698 to go to Pomfret and ready the homestead.

The following description from Folktales of Pomfret described for me what it must have been like as a colonial pioneer in the wilds of Connecticut and has helped to make Sarah Horrell Goodell one of my favorite ancestors:

"WEST OF THE MASHAMOQUET-ABINGTON

In the autumn of 1698, Sarah Horrel Goodell left the friendly village of Woodstock, following the Path alone, far out into the wilds of the Nipmuck wilderness, seeking the cabin that she had been told by friends her husband was making ready for her. He had left for the new country in the early spring. Receiving no tidings of him, she resolved to join him, so taking her spinning wheel, she traversed the lonely trail from Roxbury, Mass., depending upon chance "lifts" from fellow travelers along the way.

She could not be prevailed upon to remain overnight at Woodstock but, spinning wheel in hand, she hurried on through the forest gloom. South of Woodstock lay the Mashamoquet in the Nipmuck Country, the future town of Pomfret. At this period the only settler in the Purchase was John Sabin, near the Woodstock line, the Bartholomew place. The path that Sarah Horrel Goodell trod that autumn night, two hundred and fifty years ago, led over Ragged Hill in the western section, miles from the Sabin home. She traveled the rocky trail, ragged and steep, down through the valleys, over the brooks and on for many a weary mile, until at last, as the last rays faded in the west, she came to the little clearing and there, by the side of the "way", she found her cabin home.

This first Goodell home is believed to have stood near the summit of Easter Hill, in the Elliott section of Pomfret, so named from its last resident. Traces of the old cellar remain near a fine spring of water.

In 1709 Thomas Goodell sold this first cabin and clearing with its young orchards to Ebenezer Truesdell, and built himself a large and substantial dwelling on the northern slope of the hill, about one-fourth of a mile south of the present Abington Church.

He owned several hundred acres of land between Blackwell's Brook and Abington Brook. His land was crossed by the King's Highway up to 1870, when that section of this ancient road was closed by the laying of the N. Y. N. H. & H. R. R. Travel was diverted through Abington Common, now Route 97.

The Goodells were of Huguenot origin. .All of their eleven children were born before 1721. The first child, Humphrey, born Oct. 30, 1699 was the first white child born in the limits of the Mashamoquet Purchase

The Goodell family lived for many generations at their second home site. A marvelous growth of lilacs still thrive by the open gate. A crumbling chimney, broad door stones, and a near-by well are all that remain to mark this century old pioneer homestead.

Captain Zachariah Goodell (French and Indian War) sold the land (for twenty pounds old tenor) for the site of the meeting-house in 1751."